Compact for removing nil values in Ruby - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Compact for removing nil values

📖 Scenario: You have a list of items where some are missing (nil). You want to clean this list by removing all the missing items.

🎯 Goal: Build a Ruby program that uses compact to remove all nil values from an array.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create an array called items with some nil values

Create a variable called clean_items that uses compact on items

Print the clean_items array

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Cleaning data lists by removing missing or empty values is common in many programs, like filtering user inputs or processing data files.

💼 Career

Knowing how to clean arrays efficiently helps in data processing, web development, and scripting tasks where data quality matters.

1

Create the array with nil values

Create an array called items with these exact elements: "apple", nil, "banana", nil, "cherry"

Ruby

# Create the array called items with some nil values
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use square brackets [] to create the array and include nil where needed.

2

Use compact to remove nil values

Create a variable called clean_items and set it to items.compact to remove all nil values

Ruby

items = ["apple", nil, "banana", nil, "cherry"]
# Create clean_items by calling compact on items
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use the compact method on the items array and assign it to clean_items.

3

Print the cleaned array

Write a puts statement to print the clean_items array

Ruby

items = ["apple", nil, "banana", nil, "cherry"]
clean_items = items.compact
# Print clean_items
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use puts clean_items to display the array elements, each on its own line.

4

Print the cleaned array as a single line

Write a puts statement to print the clean_items array as a single line using inspect

Ruby

items = ["apple", nil, "banana", nil, "cherry"]
clean_items = items.compact
puts clean_items
# Print clean_items as a single line
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use puts clean_items.inspect to print the array on one line with brackets.